Introducing David Cahn, Our New Deli Manager

In January we welcomed a new member of the management team, David Cahn. David moved up from Texas to manage the Wedge Deli. "Moved up from Texas in the middle of winter?" You may well ask, I did. His story reads like a history of the developments in the grocery industry since the '70s.

David grew up in Los Angeles and fell in love with cooking at - hold your breath - age 5. In high school he dreamed of opening his own restaurant, but he went to college anyway and received his BA in psychology from the University of California in March of 1979. The cooking bug hadn't left him during that time and two months later he was enrolled at the fledgling California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, in a 16 month Professional Chef's Program.

David proclaims that he has been involved in The Food Revolution from the beginning. In San Francisco he was exposed to Alice Waters and her revolutionary concept of eating locally and seasonally. He met and studied with a number of now famous restaurateurs, chefs and bakers. At that time, the CCA was the only professional cooking school in the state that focused on classic cuisine and fine cooking, and students worked to develop refined, sensitive palates.

After graduation in 1980, David went to work in a 4-star Italian restaurant for 2 years. Moving back to L.A., he became saute cook and pastry baker for Le Cellier, a French restaurant. David managed and cooked for a gourmet take out that they opened in Santa Monica for a year in 1982 and then moved to the Polo and Riding Club of the Burbank Equestrian Center, owned by the owner of Ma Maison (where Wolfgang Puck got his start). After six months, the chefs were put out of work by a corporate food service that brought in packaged food that David says was just "dumped into bowls" to be served. Thus began an unhappy series of similar events that, happily, brought David to us.

David began to realize that restaurant work was a killer! He next went to work for Gelson's Market, a small chain in southern California. He had reservations, as chefs make reputations in restaurants, not grocery markets. But the need for sane hours took precedence and he took the job. This was the first time he worked for a company with a commitment to providing all handmade, fresh, natural products made with no artificial flavors, colors, or MSG. It was at Gelson's that he developed many of the recipes we're already seeing in our Deli case.

After four years David followed his boss to Ralph's Grocery Co., a 72 store chain. Ralph's had standard grocery deli counters, full of pre-cut salads and shaved meats. There was no cooking to speak of when David started, but he opened the new store in the San Diego area and started training chefs with an emphasis on fresh, natural flavors. He focused on developing programs that centered on high quality food.

Ralph's was bought out by a larger corporation that was based strictly on volume. There was no room for the kind of food David produced and he moved on to a Texas grocery chain, which was then bought out by a big grocery corporation and again cheap, packaged, preservative-laden products were introduced in the deli department. This time he went to a cookware retailer, and there we found him.

David says he fell in love with Minneapolis and the personality, atmosphere, work and service ethic of the Wedge. He feels he's found an especially good fit because we share the goal of producing the highest quality fresh, natural food. He's especially delighted because he knows this time that commitment won't be abandoned because of another corporate buy-out that switches the emphasis to cheap, processed food.

He is committed to producing the best flavors with the best quality ingredients. He wants to provide fine restaurant quality food that you'd be proud to serve guests in your home, at less than restaurant prices. He doesn't believe co-op members and customers should have to sacrifice quality when too tired or busy to cook. He wants to affirm to members his commitment to providing top quality food for the broadest audience - vegans, gourmands, vegetarians, and people with special dietary requirements, such as gluten-free food. He wants a wide variety of choices for everyone, everyday. While not every recipe will be in the case every day, his goal is to find the core of products this community relies upon regularly and then supplement it with a rotating variety of exciting new recipes. These products will focus on seasonal specialties with the Chez Panisse approach: fresh, seasonal, local when possible, all made by hand to maximize taste and nutrition.

Welcome, David Cahn.